


Pillowfortitude

by Elf (Elfwreck)



Series: Pillowfort Thoughts [1]
Category: No Fandom
Genre: From Dreamwidth, Gen, Meta, Nonfiction, Social Media, pillowfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:54:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24138439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elfwreck/pseuds/Elf
Summary: Initial thoughts on joining the Pillowfort beta, before the Kickstarter.
Series: Pillowfort Thoughts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1741846
Comments: 4
Kudos: 1





	Pillowfortitude

I got my invite to join the 4th round of beta testers at [Pillowfort.io](http://pillowfort.io) [now [Pillowfort.social](http://pillowfort.social)]. I've set up an account. (My username should be obvious. My main reason for joining new platforms these days is to secure my username before the crowds arrive.) I want to talk about their TOS, so I've [made a google doc](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YKtFT3g7nHoDEeocfqoEZGTjz7bRmJv59ahHj6uP0AY) of it so I don't have to copy/past from the PDF. I also want to talk about what I've seen on the platform - not any details (it's all behind a login lock, so I'm assuming nothing is publicly sharable) but the generalities.

Their [Terms of Service](https://pillowfort.io/TermsOfService) doc isn't linked from the logged-out main page, which I find annoying but understandable; the reason is probably, "look, we're busy making a platform here; we're not wasting time on making public-facing content other than occasional tumblr posts about _hey we're busy making a platform here; plz sign up_."

Quick first impressions: TOS is standard, except for (1) a method for allowing kids under 13 to participate - YAY! - requiring parental consent, as is the law, and (2) a whole bunch of "no vicious content" (my paraphrase) rules. Other than those, it has the standard "we kinda own the rights to everything" language. Their [privacy policy](https://pillowfort.io/privacypolicy) has not been updated for GDPR, but since they're not selling user data, that's probably not much of a concern right now.

Internal: Most of the content is either New Platform Squee (if you did Imzy, you know what I'm talking about) or "oh hey here is my new blog/community/profile/thing; I am [list of identity traits] and I love [list of fandoms] and here is an awesome picture/gifset related thereto."

The largest communities that aren't specifically about the site have fewer than 300 members, and most are inactive - started during earlier waves of beta testing, and languished because it's hard to keep a "community" going when what you have is a handful of interested people, none of whom wants to dominate the discussions. Looks pretty much like Tumblr to me; probably looks somewhat like FB or Instagram for those who have accounts there. (I don't.) Has threaded comments, which are nice, but since they have to fit in a central column a bit wider than Tumblr's, I can see problems with detailed discussions.

**GOOD THINGS**

Aforementioned child provisions - there's an ability to set up a "family account" which allows for people under age 13 to participate. Much applause for this; most sites don't bother with having a way for parents to provide a waiver to COPPA. (When Kid the Elder was 9, I set her up with a Neopets account by faxing in a permission slip. For other sites, I just told her to lie about her age.)

Skins for dashboard viewing - the color scheme is adjustable; you're not required to stick to Soothing Corporate Blue as the background color. I expect that, when it gets a bit larger, there'll be scripts on Greasemonkey/Tampermonkey that allow custom backgrounds and icon changes and so on. (However, although I know I saw that and "color settings have trouble in IE" is listed as a known bug, I can't find that setting now. So: kudos for having a good feature; boo-hiss for hiding it.)

**NEUTRAL THINGS**

Reasonably-sized list of bugs (mobile display problems, nested comment issues) and intended features (community content only visible to members, comment editing). Platform features aren't well-documented; it's hard to figure out any options beyond "follow person/join community/make post." (This is very reasonable for a beta release.) Finding people is difficult--there's no searching by interest or community membership. Profiles are minimalist; there's room for a paragraph and a link to your posts and comments, and that's all.

**THINGS THAT MAKE ME UNHAPPY**

I don't want to call this "bad things; some are just not to my taste. I'm not happy that the logged-out site has no information about them; no link to the TOS, no statement of "who we are and what we're doing." Not even a link to the public blog on Tumblr (or Facebook, which I assume exists). There's no download/archive ability. (That might happen, but it's not even on the "we're working on it" feature list.) No transparency - I don't know who's a moderator, nor who's running PF. The FAQ only talks about site features ("how reblogs work"), not about Pillowfort Blogging LLC.

The TOS - I [have some comments](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mgBCoW3gBtDxykC56a4IHmAXB8ttFGGaaBElUiLWSB4). The two big areas likely to be pitched as "Pillowfort is a safe space!" are under the content guidelines:

> Any user who commits the following infractions is subject to moderator action:
> 
> 5\. Using derogatory and insulting language to disparage another user’s racial, religious, gender, or sexual identity, or mental or physical disability or condition; or to disparage the general idea of these identities or conditions;
> 
> 16\. promoting the ideologies of, or attempting to recruit for, hate groups that promote discrimination against specific demographics and personal identities (examples of such groups are neo-Nazis, white nationalists, etc. See the [SPLC website](https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate) for more examples of what constitutes domestic hate groups);

I suppose "physical condition" includes weight, age, transition status, virginity (...maybe), pregnancy or lack thereof, and beauty or ugliness. It may also include hairstyle.

National origin and ethnicity aren't mentioned. (They may have assumed those fall under "race;" that's not always true.) Social status/class/caste isn't mentioned; living conditions aren't mentioned; family status isn't mentioned. Fannish tastes and other preferences aren't mentioned. I can think of plenty of topics not based on "protected class" categories (and a few that are, that aren't mentioned - Age might count as a "physical condition" but marital status, citizenship, employment details, and military service aren't). Political affiliation is a protected class in California; it's not even hinted at here.

I can't tell if the oversights are accidental or deliberate - do they want to allow insults toward spinsters, veterans, Republicans, immigrants? Celebrities with mullets?

Banning disparagement of these ideas is a big change from most sites, and can go wrong in so many ways. Do they have moderators who are able to tell the difference between "teenagers are stupid" and "college kids are too immature to handle guns" and "15-year-olds don't have the maturity to be good parents" and "8-year-olds are way too young to watch PG-rated movies, and parents who let them are bad parents."

Are any of those allowed? Only some of them? Does it depend on context?

... Is the site going to allow pro-ana and childfree communities, and let them gripe about the people who disagree with their choices? Or will the communities be allowed as long as they don't insult those who aren't welcome?

\-----  
I could see this working; I expect it to crash and burn as soon as the activity level outpaces the current moderators' time. They want a "nice safe comfortable conversation site," which requires extensive gatekeeping: active, skilled moderation, and likely other filters. (Metafilter costs $5 for an account, and still needs paid mods to keep the conversations from going off the rails when they hit controversial topics.) And as with any other new social platform, the majority of testers will sign up, poke around, realize nobody's here yet, and leave.

They need a reason for people to post content on PF, and "we won't let anyone hurt you," even if true, isn't going to be enough. People can post on their own computers for that - they need a way to encourage the kinds of social activities they want. I'm not sure they have that.


End file.
